


Adventurers

by Emma_Oz



Category: Tomorrow Series - John Marsden, Tomorrow When the War Began (2010), Tomorrow When the War Began - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2014-02-07
Packaged: 2018-01-11 12:17:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1172963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emma_Oz/pseuds/Emma_Oz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Boating on the wedding morning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adventurers

The whole wedding thing had got a bit out of hand, so Homer and I sneaked out of the house on the big day. 

It was going to be a simple ceremony, but somehow, with Homer’s parents doing a Greek hospitality thing and Fi and her mother obsessing over the colours of the napkins for the reception and Lee bringing all his brothers and sisters back to Wirrawee, it all got a bit over the top. With all the people staying over, the house felt really full and a bit strange. Maybe it wouldn’t have felt that way if my parents and Corrie had been there. 

Anyway, I woke up early and went into the garden for a cuppa. I found Homer out there, enjoying his last hours as a free man. He nicked a sip of my drink but then spat it out because he hates sugary tea.

‘It’s a bit weird, isn’t it?’ he said.

‘And you’re not even the one who has to wear the white marshmallow,’ I nodded. I love Homer’s Mum but she had got married in the 80s and the dress was… well imagine Princess Diana’s dress but parading down the aisle at the Wirriwa community hall.

‘Let’s do something normal to start the day,’ Homer suggested.

‘What, argue?’ 

‘Let’s go down to the billabong. If anyone sees us, they’ll think we’ve decided we can’t face the music and are eloping.’

He caught my hand and we hurried out through the shrubbery and made our way, unnoticed, to the billabong. We used to swim there when we were kids. I wouldn’t want to get in that weedy water now, but when we were little tackers we would spend hours in there. There was even an ancient boat which had come through the war untouched. 

It was really pretty, full of trees planted by my Dad when he first got the property and there are a lot of birds there. It was so peaceful and I felt like I was doing the right thing, sharing this bit of land with Homer.

After a bit of squabbling about who would row, we wound up in the middle of the lake. Homer flopped on his back, arranging a faded pillow under his head. 

‘I could go to sleep here,’ he said.

‘Well don’t,’ I poked him with my toe. ‘Seriously, Fi has a schedule for me which starts with hair and make up in like half an hour.’

‘I’m glad I don’t have to go through that. Shave and put on my suit, and I’m done. Really, do I even need to shave?’ He ran a hand over his chin.

‘We’ll see if you complain about how I look when we’re finished,’ I teased.

He had one of his sudden moments of seriousness. ‘You always look great, El. You know that.’

No wonder I love the big lummox.

Then I noticed what the big lummox had done when he had flopped over in the boat. ‘We’ve sprung a leak!’ I cried.

Homer started rowing and I baled as fast as I could with my hat, but we laughing so much that we were both pretty ineffective. ‘Bale, Ellie! Or we’ll be drowned on our wedding day!’

We ended up wading ashore. Through the mud. Think: a pair of abominable snow men, but with black, sticky mud. 

We took one look at each other and burst out laughing. 

‘Nobody would say we look nice now,’ I said.

It was sadly true. Drenched and muddy, we gazed at each other and snorted with laughter.

‘Quick,’ I said, ‘We’ve got to sneak in. Fi will blow a gasket if she sees me like this.’

‘Even Lee may find this kind of hard to deal with,’ Homer admitted. 

We went around the back way, intending to enter by the side veranda. It’s usually deserted but of course on this day we had to run into Fi’s Mum. The look on her face!

‘Where have you been, Ellie?’ she exclaimed.

‘Boating,’ I murmured and raced off for a really thorough shower, callously abandoning Homer to make the explanations. 

Anyway, it worked out. When I came into the hall, Homer looked great in his suit. Radiant. Gavin was walking me up the aisle, and I could see all my family – Fi and Lee, Homer’s folks, Jess and Jeremy. 

It was the beginning of something new but it was not the end of the old. It was like Homer had always been part of my family and my family was a ribbon that went back to my parents and on to the future. Which is not a very good explanation of why I had a big grin on my face in all the photos. At the reception I just kept saying to everyone, ‘I’m so happy.’

**Author's Note:**

> John Marsden notes his debt to Mary Grant Bruce, a prolific Australian children's author in the early 20th century. Her most famous series was the Billabong books about Norah Linton and her adventures with her brother Jim and friend Wally.
> 
> My depiction of their wedding day is a homage to Bruce's depiction of Norah's wedding day in *Billabong Adventurers* (1927).
> 
> Here is the description of their relationship: ‘Weddings are supposed to end stories, but, because this book is not a love-story, the wedding comes out of its usual setting and becomes a jumping-off place for the events which were to follow. This is not to say that it is not a story about people who loved each other. For Norah Linton and Wally Meadows had done that almost all their lives, beginning with the lonely orphan boy’s affection for the little girl who was kind to him, and who was half a boy herself; so that when they grew up, the deeper and truer relationship came to them so naturally and simply that it seemed as if it were the only thing that could possibly happen. They were very sure of each other; but, being matter-of-fact people, they did not become sentimental. They lived their love-story, but they did not talk much about it…’ 
> 
> Although Norah married her friend Wally, the framing of the relationship reminds me very strongly of Ellie and Homer.


End file.
